Hot Topics:

Gov hopeful McCormick vows to build jobs

By Lisa Hagen, Statehouse Correspondent

Updated:
02/20/2014 07:43:14 AM EST

Independent gubernatorial candidate Jeff McCormick speaks at Suffolk University Wednesday. Seated, from left, are Alasdair Robers, professor of law and public policy at Suffolk Law School; Greg Massing, executive director of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service; and Michael Caljouw, vice president of government and regulatory affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. SUN/LISA HAGEN

Sixth in a series of roundtable discussions at Suffolk University with the nine gubernatorial candidates

BOSTON -- If there is one thing Jeff McCormick wants voters to remember about him, it's that for the past 25 years he has created jobs and will continue to do so if elected governor of Massachusetts.

"Remember, this is about the middle class because that is the structural element that makes everything else work," McCormick said. "Everything else topples down if you don't have that."

McCormick, one of two declared Independent candidates, spoke at the sixth of nine round-table series on Wednesday, which are featuring the 2014 candidates for governor at Suffolk University's Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service.

Independent gubernatorial hopeful Jeff McCormick speaks with members of the audience before the roundtable event at Suffolk University Wednesday. SUN/LISA HAGEN

Labeling himself as socially progressive, McCormick comes into this race as a political newcomer. He started as an analyst and investment banker with Bariston Associates, a private equity investment firm in Boston.

In 1993, he founded Saturn Partners in Boston, a group that finances early-stage growth companies including Boston Duck Tours and Twin Rivers Technologies, a biodiesel company in Quincy.

Since working with one of the largest biodiesel companies in North America, McCormick said he supports alternative energy and shared his concerns about natural gas that leaks from pipelines.

"One of things I'd like to do is look at the overall carbon footprint and start getting rid of some of the nastier stuff," he said.

Advertisement

"We need to focus on using what is here, and convert some of the messy fossil fuels to be more efficient. But that is not the end solution."

McCormick focused on education as a way to get students jobs and help grow the economy. Although there are examples of successful charter schools, he said there needs to be a balance since they are taking resources away from public high schools.

"I would like for local (school) systems to have more power so that they can do what they know they need to do, but everyone has to work together on this," he said.

Along with early education, McCormick stressed the need for more investments in vocational technical training, community colleges, and state colleges. He wants to encourage students to enter fields where they will be guaranteed jobs when they graduate.

"They are our future entrepreneurs, and they are going to be the ones who grow the economy," he said. "We need to invest through the system, and start training people for jobs as opposed to just educating people."

McCormick also addressed his concerns with the incarceration rate. He said government should focus more on understanding every part of a child and take a more proactive approach to finding solutions.

"I do think it has to be jobs, not jails," he said. "We have to intervene earlier and really understand the problem."

McCormick also focused on health care as a way to stimulate job growth, offering some solutions he thinks would help fix the state's system. He recommended more investments in primary care and patient preferences, a way to engage people about all of their medical options.

"One of the big problems in health care is not everyone is thinking long enough term, and we need very active relationships with primary-care providers," he said.

McCormick lives in Boston with his wife and three children, but a story in Wednesday's edition of The Boston Globe found that he declared primary residency in his mortgage documents when he purchased a townhouse in New Hampshire in 1999.

According to the Globe's story, public records showed he filed principal residency in two other Boston residences that same year. But McCormick said that "it was done exactly the way it was supposed to."

"It was just a place to get away to, it's as simple as that," he told reporters after the event. "I think someone was looking for something that they didn't find."

Although he has no political experience, McCormick believes the responsibilities he had as a CEO provide him with the skillset to run for statewide office.

"This is an opportunity to serve in no other way than I have in my life and that's why I'm doing it," he said.

Independent candidates do not have a history of winning elected office in Massachusetts, but McCormick thinks he will be a contender if voters listen to the messages of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

"I think if people understand all three messages, I think I'm in great shape," McCormick said. "The question is are people going to understand the message and hear the message."

To read the previous stories in this series, visit lowellsun.com and click on the following links listed after the candidates:

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.